Question Calling all noobs (noob question thread)

[Luke]

Alright cool. Why didn't I think about that before? I'll check and see if there's one available in my dad's shop.

I don't have one but I can pick one up for $13

Any guides for battery installation?

A few of the best pieces of advice I can give you at this point are:

1) Do as much research as you can before you ask a question. The forum is willing to help people, but not spoon-feed them every step of the way, especially with the wealth of information that is already out there.

2) When you have decided that a question is worth asking, be very clear in what you're asking. For example, what does "Any guides for battery installation?" even mean? You're having trouble figuring out the wiring, or...?

3) It's not against the rules or anything, but try to refrain from posting multiple times in a row. In other online forums it is against the rules to even post twice in a row, and we're not really sticklers about it here, but it can still be annoying and is almost always unnecessary because you have the ability to edit any of your previous posts. For example, if you feel the need to tell the world you have the ability to buy a multimeter, just edit that into the bottom of your post that you wrote 10 minutes before where you told everyone that you were in the process of looking for one.

Don't take this too much to heart or anything; we all definitely want you to be an active member and succeed and finish projects and everything else

 

[cheese]

Hold down the reset button to get into the priiloader menu and launch the homebrew channel (it will be upside down). See if that will detect the drive.

 

[Bakuku]

I remember using the Panasonic batteries in my first portable and ever since... I might be the first one to ever use them on Modretro if I remember correctly.

They are dirt cheap for what they provide in batterylife! Really wouldn’t recommend any other battery for portables.
I came by them after noticing the steep shipping costs batteryspace charged for Euro shipping. A reseller here in Belgium pointed them out to me and spoke very highly of them!

 

[Stitches]

Don't trust ultrafire. They put tiny double digit mAh lipos inside the 18650 shells and fill the rest with flour to make up the weight. You will never get what you paid for.

 

[Mumble]

How does one convert to a THP file? I can't seem to find anything on the webs.

 

[ShockSlayer]

It's not easy. You have to have the video in frames, and the audio formatted a certain way, then you have to build it through a command line.

 

[Stitches]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Lithium...-7v-4-2v-Boost-Step-Up-9V-6F22-/112264513413?

will this charger work

No, that won't output enough power. It's a 9v buck module attached to a usb charged 3.7v circuit. It outputs 9.1v, which is enough for custom regs, but it only outputs 500mAh. The Wii needs a bit over 2000mAh (according to other posts) at that voltage to run, not counting extra drain from screens and audio amps.

You'd be better off with a regular 7.4v circuit like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/2S-2-Series...Charger-Protection-Board-7-4V-4A/162283859915
It can output 4000mAh, which is plenty for the portable to run.

 

[Stitches]

I've read so far that the 3DS analog sliders can be used in place of a stock analog joystick, but the range has issues and needs either a GC+, some shitload of resistors, or a microcontroller to have the full analog range. Would other slider type joysticks such as a replacement PSP one have the same troubles? If so, is there any noticeable input delay from using a microcontroller/resistors?

 

[cheese]

Resistors add no delay at all, since they are passives.
Microcontrollers usually don't add enough delay for it to be noticeable (delay is usually less than a frame, so it would make no actual difference in game)

 

[Gman]

I've read so far that the 3DS analog sliders can be used in place of a stock analog joystick, but the range has issues and needs either a GC+, some shitload of resistors, or a microcontroller to have the full analog range. Would other slider type joysticks such as a replacement PSP one have the same troubles? If so, is there any noticeable input delay from using a microcontroller/resistors?

The resistors inline on a 3ds slider and a stock Gc controller do nothing. The best solution is using a GC+. PSP sliders have even restricted range then 3ds sliders and quite frankly suck.

 

[Mumble]

Does anyone know if these cheap $5 - $12 controllers have a chip?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-C...237054?hash=item3a8065797e:g:OBoAAOxyOM5RbzTR
Or is this only on first party controllers? I had two gamestop ones, but they had a glob top instead of a chip. The gamecube-controller-breaking-master needs to save some money...

 

[Stitches]

The chip is there, it's just hidden under the epoxy blob. Nintendo did the same thing with the chips on the disk drive board to stop the clip-on type WiiKeys.

 

[HackerBilly]

Super Nooby Question. Like always but I never was too experienced with using Batteries for Portables quite yet and so I'm actually quite new to it and I really want to use a pack for an Untrimmed Wii without custom Regulators and stuff.
I found this pack browsing the forums a while back and I can't remember too well if it was a good pack or not. It had some good reviews and it features nice fresh cells and stuff. So would this pack work? and if So like what's an estimated playtime I could get from it?(I won't be using a DiskDrive of course)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MF70BPU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A24OIV2F0TL1K3

 

[Madmorda]

Super Nooby Question. Like always but I never was too experienced with using Batteries for Portables quite yet and so I'm actually quite new to it and I really want to use a pack for an Untrimmed Wii without custom Regulators and stuff.
I found this pack browsing the forums a while back and I can't remember too well if it was a good pack or not. It had some good reviews and it features nice fresh cells and stuff. So would this pack work? and if So like what's an estimated playtime I could get from it?(I won't be using a DiskDrive of course)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MF70BPU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A24OIV2F0TL1K3

I used this exact one in my gamecube portable. It's not bad, but I think most people use 14.8v packs instead of 11.1v packs (someone correct me if I'm wrong) because of the voltage drop as batteries deplete.

My gcp draws 2 amps at 12 volts and lasts 2 and a half hours. It should last about three so it's a little on the short side which might be due to a voltage drop.

Also, there is another one just like that that has a battery indicator light built in.

Wiis draw way less power than gamecubes, plus my gcp has a high power draw so you'll get a MUCH better battery life out of this pack than I did. Idk how much wiis draw exactly, but I'd guesstimate you'd get about 6 hours if you used the newer model wii.

Overall, I'd say that it's not a bad pack and would do what you want it to do, but there are probably better ones out there. Someone more experienced can tell you what to use / not to use and you should listen to them. Just thought I'd let you know my experience with it

 

[Madmorda]

I'm the one who said not to buy the mp3 ones just gonna reiterate here.

I bought like four and they were all bad and none were stereo despite being clearly labeled as stereo on the packaging and they all had two speakers. I could not get a headphone jack set up with one that wasn't stereo so I finally gave up and finished my project without one. I went back recently with an audio amplifier that I bought as just a circuit board on Amazon and my portable now has a headphone jack.

The ones that are just amplifier boards labeled as stereo actually have to be stereo, but the ones you find inside of things rarely are. Also the portable ones you take apart often have epoxy on it or bad soldering you have to clean up. I would strongly recommend that you buy just the amplifier board. The one I got had a volume wheel and a mute option as well as easy to use soldering points.

This is just based on my experience, but I wasted oodles of time and effort and a fair bit of money trying to find a board that worked. If you're working on a simple to build budget project, definitely buy the board separate. Buying one good one is cheaper and easier than buying three bad ones

Edit: you might consider checking the portablizing BOM, I think there is an audio amplifier on there

 

[HackerBilly]

Yeah that one. Very good sound and power efficiency.

Awesome!! I'm considering that or using this amp http://www.ebay.com/itm/181406329936 with DSLite Speakers. I'm thinking about it but I currently don't know if I will use that or not. I have a week to decide. I'm using a ZN-45 for a case so I should have room either way. I just dk which would be louder or better to use.
Also I would like to know if I have the pinout right on the MX chip or if I have it backwards. I was told if you wired the 2nd Pin and 17th Pin together then you could bypass the power button and if that's true. It would be really nice for my portable.
-snip incorrect pinout-

Moderator note: please look at the available guides for the system before asking about something that is in the guides.

 

[Stitches]

Just a warning about the speakers, DS lite speakers are 0.25w I think. That amp outputs 3w, so you might get peaking and distortion even at low volume.

 

[pipbug]

There aren't any hidden traces within the gold Gnd outer border, correct? I'm planning on trimming them off; with preferably no re-wiring involved

 

[cheese]

No, most of the hidden traces are near the center of the board. If you want to look inside the board, you can look at the compendium we made for the wii a while back.

 

[fibbef]

it's not hard to get the saves onto a real card if you wish

What is required to do this? I'm guessing stock wii since it's the one device with GC mem card slot and USB built in standard. Would it have to be softmodded to copy saves back and forth from USB?

Gamecube won't let me make copies of my Pokémon Box save and I'm wondering if creating USB backups would be a way around that.